Pollan worked as a literatureteacher until her retirement in 2004.[2] In 2003, her husband, Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez, and seventy-four other Cubans, now known as the Group of 75, were arrested in the Black Spring, a crackdown on opposition figures.[2] The group, which included journalists, activists, and commentators, which the Cuban government accused of taking money from foreign governments, including the United States.[2]

Pollan soon began appearing outside government facilities where her husband could have potentially been imprisoned.[2] She soon ran into the wives of other political prisoners, which led to the founding of the Ladies in White.[2] Pollan always wore white, a symbol of the organization, and became a key opposition figure in Cuba. Her home at 963 Calle Neptuno in Havana became a center of opposition where she hosted literary tea for wives of political prisoners.[3]